The Ghost in the Shell Episode 4 Review

Not an Unreasonable Crashout

The Ghost in the Shell Episode 4 apparently covers one of the arcs in Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence. While I’ve seen the first Ghost in the Shell movie, I’ve never seen Innocence, so I can’t directly confirm that.

But what I’m pretty sure about is that this arc is also covered in Stand Alone Complex, which I have seen. I actually don’t remember the arc itself. But I remember the president of Hanka Precision Instruments, who’s a boxy robot.

I think in the SAC adaptation, the members of Section 9 interact with him before breaking into the factory. I have a vague memory of them being confused by the fact that his ghost is in a box and not a humanoid robot. But since the 2026 adaptation follows the manga closely, I assume that what we see in this episode is how it happened in the manga.

Anyway, the catalyst for what occurs in Episode 4 is that several Tomiland class robots have gone crazy. They’ve attacked their owners and other random bystanders. Normally, that wouldn’t require Section 9’s involvement. But one of the victims was Colonel Tonoda, a VIP.

Also, the robots had “SOS” written in blood on their brains. But I’m sure that’s totally normal and not in any way an indication that something shady is going on beneath the surface.

Now, Colonel Tonoda’s Tomiland robot goes crazy after he asks her to wipe away his sweat while he’s golfing. And considering what Colonel Tonoda looks like, I can’t say that his Tomiland robot’s crashout is unreasonable.

Is it the most valid crashout in anime? No. That title probably belongs to Maki in Jujutsu Kaisen. But I have a feeling Colonel Tonoda made other requests of his Tomiland robot before.

We’re Becoming Colonel Tonoda as a Society

There’s one scene from Episode 4 that I saw people talking about online. This was when the Major gave Colonel Tonoda the middle finger. The online discourse was just around how they liked that she did that. But I think that scene is actually far more important.

Why does Motoko give the Colonel the finger? It’s because he says that his Tomiland was a work of art, and that he doesn’t like the mechanical smell other robots give off. He then assumes Motoko is a robot, as well, and says he can smell her “white blood.”

Okay, but why does this matter?

It matters because the Colonel is clearly “racist”(?) against robots. He looks down on robots and doesn’t like them, for the most part. But his bigotry also extends to anyone he perceives to be a robot — in this case, Motoko.

This is something we’re seeing today with the rise of AI. People (I believe rightfully) hate that AI is being forced into almost every aspect of their lives. It’s one thing to choose to use it when you want. But that’s not what’s happening. It’s being forced on us in situations that only make things more frustrating.

As a result, there’s considerable backlash not only against AI but also against anything perceived as AI. And this is where the parallels are between this episode and the modern day.

I have been falsely accused of writing with AI on several occasions. People look at some of the words I use or the way I write and assume it’s AI. It’s not. I’ve been writing this way long before AI existed. Where do you think AI learned to write like that? By scraping online content, such as my own.

Hanka Precision Instruments

Surprise, surprise. Hanka Precision Instruments is up to no good. They’re involved in a child trafficking ring. But don’t worry, it’s not child sex trafficking — or is it?

Batou’s and Togusa’s investigation into the company reveals Hanka is trafficking children so it can implant copies of their ghosts into its Tomiland line of robots. I guess the idea is that if these robots have copies of human souls, they’ll act less like robots and more like humans.

The big problem with this, though, is that the process of digitizing a ghost kills the person.

Effectively, Hanka is kidnapping children, ripping out their souls to place in robots, and discarding the husks. When you look at it that way, it’s no wonder so many of these Tomiland robots have gone insane. They’re the ghosts of children trapped in robot bodies.

Now, I said that this isn’t child sex trafficking. It’s more like child sacrifice. But I think you could make the argument that sex trafficking is also occurring here.

As I mentioned earlier in this review, I have a feeling that wiping away his sweat isn’t the only request Colonel Tonoda has made of his Tomiland robot. The way he speaks about that robot, in particular, makes it sound like he’s quite attracted to it.

So, here’s the question. If the Colonel used that robot for sexual purposes, does it count as child sex trafficking since a digitized version of a real child’s soul is inside it?

I have no idea what the right answer is. It’s unclear if the ghosts within the Tomiland robots still have true sentience. But either way, the creation of those robots involves trafficking and killing children. Everyone involved is going to prison for a very long time.

Final Thoughts

What do you think of The Ghost in the Shell Episode 4? Was the Colonel’s Tomiland robot’s crashout valid? Do you think the Major actually smells like “white blood” since her body is almost entirely cybernetic? And if it became possible, how quickly do you think the US would implement digitizing ghosts and placing them into slave robots as a form of criminal punishment?

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My review of Episode 5 is available now.